JOURN 7 EYING TOWARDS THE POLE 97 



in fifty days. Had they remained in the ship until 

 November they would have saved themselves trouble, 

 for, as matters turned out, the embarrassing drift took 

 the Pram, within eight miles of the farthest north 

 they attained after twenty-three days of strenuous en- 

 deavour. 



The ice, fairly easy for a few days, soon became 

 terrible in the difficulties it offered to progress over it, 

 and the continual toil of hauling and carrying the 

 sledges, and righting them when capsized, soon told on 

 the two men to such an extent as to tire them out so 

 thoroughly that sometimes in the evening they fell 

 asleep as they went along. The cold, too, proved 

 singularly searching and severe. During the course of 

 the day the damp exhalations of the body little by 

 little became condensed in their outer garments, which 

 became transformed into suits of ice-armour, so hard 

 that if they could have been got off they could have 

 stood by themselves, and they crackled audibly at every 

 movement. The clothes were so stiff that the sleeve 

 of Nansen's coat rubbed deep sores in his wrist, one of 

 which got frost-bitten, the wound growing deeper and 

 deeper and nearly reaching the bone. " How cold we 

 were," says Nansen, " as we lay there shivering in the 

 bag, waiting for the supper to be ready ! I, who was 

 cook, was obliged to keep myself more or less awake to 

 see to the culinary operations, and sometimes I suc- 

 ceeded. At last the supper was ready, was portioned 

 out, and, as always, tasted delicious. These occasions 

 were the supreme moments of our existence, moments 

 to which we looked forward all day long. But some- 

 times we were so weary that our eyes closed, and we 



H 



